Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has told Paul Murphy he owes a public apology to former Tanaiste Joan Burton and her assistant Karen O’Connell.

There were heated scenes in the Dail as Deputy Murphy raised the issue of the Jobstown trial in which he and five others were acquitted of false imprisonment during a protest in 2014, and repeated calls for a public inquiry.

Mr Murphy was interrupted several times by the Ceann Comhairle who said he was “completely out of order” to review the outcome of a case in the Chamber.

Deputy Murphy blasted the Taoiseach for raising concerns about statements given by gardai in the trial and then “you come into the Dáil and put them on the official record of the Dáil. We can prove that they weren’t said.”

The Taoiseach told Mr Murphy he wasn’t “a victim” and called on him to make a public apology.

He said: “You’re not a victim here. You’re not the victim of any conspiracy. You got a fair trial here and you were acquitted. But that doesn’t mean your behaviour was right.

“And it may well be the case that you weren’t engaged in kidnapping but it was thuggery and your behaviour was wrong. The protest was ugly. It was violent. It was nasty.

“And the coverage showed the anger, the virulence, the words being directed at two women going about their work, a water balloon being thrown in someone’s face. All those things are something that is unbecoming in somebody who is a member of this House”.

He added: “Instead of trying to present yourself as a victim and demanding a public inquiry you should offer a public apology to Deputy Burton and Ms O’Connell”.